Note that most of these requirements are merely suggestions, if you would like to hack your own way through ]project-open[ you only will need a text editor and a working ]project-open[ installation, the rest are simply auxiliary tools to aid development.

Helpful Tools

There are various tools that support you when developing ]po[ applications.

Logfile

API Browser

Each ]po[ instance provides an API Browser that allows you to search the PL/SQL and OpenACS API. The browser is available at http://[YOUR_SERVER]/api-doc/ and can also be accessed from the Developer Toolbar.

Developer Toolbar

The toolbar is available to ]po[ SysAdmins and can be activated on the "Developer Support" page: http://[YOUR_SERVER]/ds

OpenACS Shell

Serves to execute random tcl code. Available at http://[YOUR_SERVER]/ds/shell or from the Developer Toolbar.

Permission and Parameter Protocol

System Administrators are able to get a list of permission checks performed related to a request by activating "User Switching" available from the Developer Toolbar.
Once activated each request produces a list of Parameter and Privilege settings as follow:

Other

Set parameters SessionLifetime and SessionTimeout to 604800 to avoid being logged out frequently.